Terrorist Scare Aboard the Thalys
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2 August 28, 2015 News & Analysis Terrorism in Europe Terrorist scare aboard the Thalys James Bruce jihadist groups. Khazzani returned to Europe from southern Turkey through Albania in June. Beirut An estimated 5,000 Europeans are fighting in the ranks of ISIS and youb el-Khazzani, the al-Nusra Front. 25-year-old Moroccan The intelligence services of gunman overpowered France, Belgium and Spain all had aboard one of France’s Khazzani on their watch lists. The high-speed trains on French even included him on their AugustA 21st managed to evade the S-list of suspects flagged for “links security services of three European with terrorism”, but he still was able states despite heightened alerts fol- to move across the European Un- lowing a spate of terrorist attacks in ion’s open borders, acquire an AK- France in recent months. 47 assault rifle and a Luger pistol The thwarted attack on the and board the express in Brussels Amsterdam-Paris express carry- without any checks. ing 554 passengers was the first known strike against a high-speed The French say they train. The split-second response of were alerted by three young Americans in stopping the heavily armed gunman clearly German security averted a major catastrophe. services It is not yet entirely clear that this was a terrorist attack, although the Police said Khazzani carried his evidence that is available points to short-stock AK-47 and the Luger, a lone-wolf operation designed to along with seven AK ammunition inflict the highest number of casual- magazines and two more for the ties as possible in a part of the world handgun, totalling 270 rounds, as that has been plagued by terrorism. well as a box-cutter in a backpack. “The aggression that took place It is clear that he was not under on Friday … which could have de- surveillance when he boarded the generated into a monstrous carnage train to embark on what was ap- … is fresh proof that we must pre- parently intended to be the slaugh- After the scare. French President François Hollande awards Alek Skarlatos, one of the “train heroes” pare for other attacks and therefore ter of dozens, maybe hundreds, of with the Légion d’Honneur medal at the Elysée Palace in Paris, on August 24th. protect ourselves,” French Presi- men, women and children trapped dent François Hollande warned on on the high-speed train as it hurtled August 25th. towards Paris. Stone said. ”Alek just hit me on to one degree or another in sev- weapons in a park near the Brussels The shooting started after the the shoulder and said ‘Let’s go!’ eral attacks by individuals or small rail terminus where he frequently The evidence that is train crossed into France from And I ran down, tackled him. Alek groups in France this year. slept, then took them onto the train available points to a Belgium. According to passenger grabbed the gun out of his hand These include the Charlie Hebdo with the intention of robbing the accounts, a man was wounded, while I put him in a chokehold.” strike in Paris on January 7th in passengers, David said. lone-wolf operation but the assailant’s rifle jammed. The gunman stabbed Stone with which brothers of Algerian descent, Paris prosecutor François Mo- The suspect was then jumped by the box-cutter, almost severing his Said and Cherif Kouachi, killed 11 lins dismissed Khazzani’s account Khazzani fit the profile of a poten- three young Americans, childhood thumb. “We started punching him staff members of the satirical maga- as “barely credible”. Molins ques- tial terrorist: a petty criminal with friends from California, on holiday, … just hit him unconscious,” Stone zine for publishing cartoons of the tioned how the Moroccan was able several arrests for drugs and radical aided by a British businessman. said. “Alek was hitting him on the Prophet Mohammad along with a to pay $171 in cash for a first-class leanings. They wrestled him to the floor and head with a pistol or a rifle.” French policeman before they were ticket if he had to sleep rough, as he The French say they were alerted tied him up. The four were awarded the Ordre killed by police. The brothers had claimed. by German security services who One of the Americans, Spencer national de la Légion d’honneur, trained in Yemen with AQAP. identified Khazzani boarding a flight Stone, was jolted from a snooze in France’s highest honour. Khazzani’s French lawyer, Sophie James Bruce has written from Berlin to Istanbul on May 10, his first-class car by the shooting. Khazzani’s links to Islamic radi- David, said Khazzani has denied ex- extensively on Middle Eastern 2014. Turkey is the main route for His friend Alek Skarlatos was beside cals and his trip to Syria indicate tremist links and was “dumbfound- security issues for publications Islamists going to Syria to join the him. possible links to ISIS, or al-Qaeda ed” that police considered him an such as Jane’s Intelligence Review Islamic State (ISIS), al-Qaeda’s Syr- “I saw the gunman had an AK-47 in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Islamist militant. He told interroga- and Jane’s Defence Weekly, He lives ian wing, al-Nusra Front, or other and it looked like it was jammed,” Yemen, which have been involved tors he was homeless and found the in Beirut. The Moroccan suspect: From drug trafficking to radicalisation Saad Guerraoui rested twice for drug trafficking in made several arrests of people in the Madrid alerted French intelligence northern Morocco, mainly from 2009. The economic crisis forced his enclave planning to join the Islamic of his arrival and French security Tetouan and Fnideq, which are rife father, a scrap merchant, to move State (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria. services placed Khazzani on the with smuggling and drug trafficking. Casablanca to Algeciras, in southern Spain, in At the end of 2012, Khazzani was country’s security “S-list” of about Lack of job opportunities and sol- 2010 where Khazzani frequented flagged by Spanish police as “po- 3,000 people who are identified as id education drives many youth in oroccan-born Ayoub the city’s mosques, including Taqwa tentially dangerous” in the Schen- being potential Islamist threats. the northern region to seek refuge el-Khazzani may well mosque, which is considered radi- gen Information System, a data- Khazzani flew from Berlin to Is- in religion and hence become prone have succeeded in cal. Khazzani gained a reputation as base used by European countries to tanbul on May 10th in a bid to get to to radicalisation. committing one of one of the most radical Muslims in maintain and distribute information Syria where he might have had some The use of an AK-47 in the averted the deadliest terror- his entourage. on individuals and property of inter- training with the ISIS jihadists, ac- attack on a high-speed train travel- Mist attacks in Europe had not brave Khazzani was arrested again in est. cording to French security sources. ling between Amsterdam and Paris train passengers wrestled him to the the Spanish North African enclave Spanish security sources said “There are lot of loopholes that is reminiscent of the Tunisia terror- ground on August 21st. of Ceuta for alleged drug traffick- Khazzani travelled to France in extremists use to avoid being ist attack in June by a Tunisian gun- Khazzani, 25, was born in Mo- ing. He may have been further radi- January 2014 when he was offered a caught, including the security meas- man, also armed with an AK-47, who rocco’s northern city of Tetouan. He calised in Ceuta, which is known as six-month contract by British phone ures within the Schengen zone that killed 38 tourists, most of them Brit- emigrated with his family at the age one of Europe’s hotbeds for recruit- company Lycamobile to work in the let people travel move relatively ish, in the Tunisian resort of Sousse. of 18 to Madrid in 2007, but was ar- ing jihadists. Spanish police have Paris suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis. freely,” said Magnus Ranstorp, a counterterrorism expert. Khazzani flew from But Ranstorp said he did not be- Berlin to Istanbul on lieve the border closures of the 26 Schengen states would control the May 10th in a bid to movement of extremists, adding get to Syria that “it is very costly to carry out surveillance operations in the Euro- Many of the terror attacks in Eu- pean Union zone”. rope and on European targets over- The Moroccan terror suspect is seas have been carried out by jihad- one of the many European Muslims ists of North African origin. Many who have been lured by jihadist net- European countries, including Spain works to join their ranks. and France, are cooperating with According to the latest assessment Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia on by Europol, the EU law enforcement intelligence sharing about recruit- agency, as many as 5,000 Europeans ment cells of extremists and their have joined jihadist groups in Syr- imminent threats. ia, stoking fears of their returning “European countries need to ad- to carry out attacks on home soil. dress the main issues that drive Among them are about 1,200 French their Muslim youth to join the ranks nationals and 600 Britons. of extremist groups in Syria and Ranstorp, who is directing a pro- Iraq,” said Ranstorp. ject on Strategic Terrorist Threats to “Prisons are incubators of extrem- Europe, criticised the inefficiency of ism. A heavy work needs to be done the handover of counterterror intel- in prisons across Europe in order to ligence between various countries prevent young offenders from be- of the Schengen bloc.